RE: Spenser Returns!

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David Bruggeman

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Jan 31, 2020, 12:13:20 AM1/31/20
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Picking up a thread from June 2018, because the movie in question, Spenser Confidential, is slated to debut on Netflix March 20.


For those who don't remember/don't want to click the link, the latest effort to adapt Robert B. Parker's detective Spenser for the screen is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg as the detective, and directed by Wahlberg's frequent collaborator Peter Berg.


It's 'loosely based' (per Wikipedia) on the Ace Atkins' Spenser novel Wonderland.  As the film describes Spenser and Hawk trying to solve the murder of two Boston cops, when the book was about a shady land development deal putting the screws to the owner of Spenser's gym,  I tend to agree.

David

Kevin M.

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Jan 31, 2020, 12:17:37 AM1/31/20
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What. The f*ck. Was that?

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David Bruggeman

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Jan 31, 2020, 12:47:12 AM1/31/20
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Excellent question.  No clue as to why anybody involved felt the need to rent the character names, if things are going to be so different.  Given the number of recognizable names attached (including a blink and you'll miss him Marc Maron), I would assume the film could be greenlit without the Spenser connection.

I suspect that they 'adapted' a book that wasn't actually written by Parker because it would be easier to get the rights/wouldn't necessarily have to get permission from Parker's estate.

I did botch the date of the premiere, it's March 6.

David

Kevin M.

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Jan 31, 2020, 12:52:28 AM1/31/20
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On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 9:47 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Excellent question.  No clue as to why anybody involved felt the need to rent the character names, if things are going to be so different.  Given the number of recognizable names attached (including a blink and you'll miss him Marc Maron), I would assume the film could be greenlit without the Spenser connection.

I suspect that they 'adapted' a book that wasn't actually written by Parker because it would be easier to get the rights/wouldn't necessarily have to get permission from Parker's estate.

Ace Atkins must be rolling over in his grave... and he’s still very much alive.

I own and have read every novel Parker ever wrote, and every novel posthumously including his name though written by other authors. Whatever the f*ck that trailer was, it had nothing... repeat nothing... to do with Spenser. I’ve never gotten angry watching a trailer before today. This isn’t a Spenser reboot; this is a Spenser rape.




I did botch the date of the premiere, it's March 6.

David

On Friday, January 31, 2020, 12:17:38 AM EST, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:


What. The f*ck. Was that?

On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 9:13 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Picking up a thread from June 2018, because the movie in question, Spenser Confidential, is slated to debut on Netflix March 20.


For those who don't remember/don't want to click the link, the latest effort to adapt Robert B. Parker's detective Spenser for the screen is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg as the detective, and directed by Wahlberg's frequent collaborator Peter Berg.


It's 'loosely based' (per Wikipedia) on the Ace Atkins' Spenser novel Wonderland.  As the film describes Spenser and Hawk trying to solve the murder of two Boston cops, when the book was about a shady land development deal putting the screws to the owner of Spenser's gym,  I tend to agree.

David

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Diner

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Jan 31, 2020, 9:54:02 AM1/31/20
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I am with you all the way here.

The TV series and the previous movies weren't classics (and the series made more than its share of formulaic network TV compromises). But even at their weakest, they were recognizable as Parker's work, or at least as extensions of Parker's work. They fell squarely into the private eye tradition that Parker (and Ace Atkins) have nobly upheld for the past five decades.

This mess? I don't know what the fuck this is. And no matter what their names are, I don't recognize those characters.



On Friday, January 31, 2020 at 12:52:28 AM UTC-5, Kevin M. (RPCV) wrote:
On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 9:47 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Excellent question.  No clue as to why anybody involved felt the need to rent the character names, if things are going to be so different.  Given the number of recognizable names attached (including a blink and you'll miss him Marc Maron), I would assume the film could be greenlit without the Spenser connection.

I suspect that they 'adapted' a book that wasn't actually written by Parker because it would be easier to get the rights/wouldn't necessarily have to get permission from Parker's estate.

Ace Atkins must be rolling over in his grave... and he’s still very much alive.

I own and have read every novel Parker ever wrote, and every novel posthumously including his name though written by other authors. Whatever the f*ck that trailer was, it had nothing... repeat nothing... to do with Spenser. I’ve never gotten angry watching a trailer before today. This isn’t a Spenser reboot; this is a Spenser rape.




I did botch the date of the premiere, it's March 6.

David

On Friday, January 31, 2020, 12:17:38 AM EST, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:


What. The f*ck. Was that?
On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 9:13 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Picking up a thread from June 2018, because the movie in question, Spenser Confidential, is slated to debut on Netflix March 20.


For those who don't remember/don't want to click the link, the latest effort to adapt Robert B. Parker's detective Spenser for the screen is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg as the detective, and directed by Wahlberg's frequent collaborator Peter Berg.


It's 'loosely based' (per Wikipedia) on the Ace Atkins' Spenser novel Wonderland.  As the film describes Spenser and Hawk trying to solve the murder of two Boston cops, when the book was about a shady land development deal putting the screws to the owner of Spenser's gym,  I tend to agree.

David

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

M-D November

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Jan 31, 2020, 1:12:05 PM1/31/20
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Avery Brooks as Hawk or GTFO.  Is all I have to say to that.

Tom Wolper

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Jan 31, 2020, 1:47:47 PM1/31/20
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On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 1:12 PM M-D November <mdnov...@gmail.com> wrote:
Avery Brooks as Hawk or GTFO.  Is all I have to say to that.

I thought the trailer was awesome. Not that it made me want to watch the movie, no way in a million years. But it works as a parody of the Spenser novels and TV show. In fact what I enjoy is that there have been satires about Hollywood for decades where someone adapts source material (or even writes an original story) and starts the process of turning it into a movie. Lots of studio interference and hiring and firing of writers later the movie turns out to be a mess. That's what I saw in the trailer.

A while ago Marc Maron had Dax Shepard on WTF. It was just before the release of CHIPS and Dax said that he was nervous about the box office revenue because it would determine the next ten years of his life. If the movie went over well he could count on a franchise and be assured of sequels and the career stability it would bring. It obviously didn't succeed but I guess Mark Wahlberg is at the same point now. Being faithful to the source material means nothing to him and he's hoping the movie launches a franchise.

Diner

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Feb 10, 2020, 8:14:32 PM2/10/20
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Speaking of Spenser... I just learned of the passing of Ron McLarty, the wonderful actor who played Sgt. Frank Belson on "Spenser: For Hire."


He was also one of the stars of "Cop Rock," where he did this gorgeous, heartbreaking rendition of a Randy Newman song. 



Kevin M.

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Feb 10, 2020, 9:04:59 PM2/10/20
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He carved out his own Belson character traits, different from the novels but still the same relationship with Spenser. Looks like just Avery Brooks and the love interests remain from the cast. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Kevin M.

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Mar 6, 2020, 3:23:14 AM3/6/20
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Kevin M.

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Mar 10, 2020, 2:14:54 AM3/10/20
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My fiancée has the Netflix, and we decided to try to watch this giant mooseturd of a movie on Sunday during dinner. I was watching it to hate-watch it, to borrow the phrase from Dave S. My fiancée was watching it because Mark Wahlberg and I look so much alike (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). We shut it off after about an hour (just as Marc Maron made his appearance). I could not get past the way they butchered every single aspect of the Spenser universe. Just a few examples:

— Hawk talked... a lot
— Hawk had hair
— Spenser was the one who taught Hawk how to throw a punch 
— Spenser was raised by his mother instead of by his father and uncles
— Henry, a short African American, was played by Alan Arkin
— Spenser was directionless (a truck driver?)
— Lots of BPD officers and detectives in the movie... none named Quirk or Belson
— Everybody in Boston is a professional MMA fighter
— (ex)girlfriend not named Susan
— No narration/exposition/commentary from Spenser himself

That last one really hurt the character... whether in the books or the TV show, Spenser let readers/viewers in on what he was thinking and feeling as he investigated a case. There was no sense that Wahlberg’s Spenser had any idea what he was doing or why he was doing it, which is the antithesis of who Spenser is. Spenser is fully formed from the moment the character was introduced in the novels. An hour into the movie, he’s just a guy who maybe sort of but not really wants to drive a truck. As a stand-alone movie that had nothing to do with the Robert B. Parker novels, maybe someone predisposed to like a mindless D-movie could find a morsel of entertainment from this film, but for a Spenser fan, it was nauseating. 
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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Diner

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Mar 10, 2020, 10:48:12 AM3/10/20
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Wait - Henry Cimoli is supposed to be African American? With an Italian name? 
Yeah, I know it's possible (Giancarlo Esposito et al.). But somehow I missed that detail in all the books I read.

Anyway, congratulations on making it through an hour. I haven't had the courage yet.
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Kevin M.

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Mar 10, 2020, 11:01:27 AM3/10/20
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On Tue, Mar 10, 2020 at 7:48 AM Diner <bway...@gmail.com> wrote:
Wait - Henry Cimoli is supposed to be African American? With an Italian name? 
Yeah, I know it's possible (Giancarlo Esposito et al.). But somehow I missed that detail in all the books I read.

I was messaged off list about this as well. If I’m misremembering I’ll correct it. But I recall segments from the books when Henry and Hawk speak of, for lack of a modern phrase, the black experience. I’m going to do some rereading thus week. If I discover I’m wrong; I’ll issue a correction (I’m not a Trump, after all).

Anyway, congratulations on making it through an hour. I haven't had the courage yet.

The struggle is real 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Kevin M.

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Apr 10, 2021, 8:07:56 PM4/10/21
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Reading the paperback of Ace Atkins’ latest Spenser novel set in Hollywood, and about 50 pages in, Spenser nearly breaks the fourth wall as he ruthlessly and pointedly mocks the Netflix movie based on an earlier novel. I suspect it felt as good/cathartic for Atkins to write the rebuke as it did for me to read it.
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Kevin M. (RPCV)

Kevin M.

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Nov 20, 2021, 7:29:27 PM11/20/21
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On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 5:07 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:
Reading the paperback of Ace Atkins’ latest Spenser novel set in Hollywood, and about 50 pages in, Spenser nearly breaks the fourth wall as he ruthlessly and pointedly mocks the Netflix movie based on an earlier novel. I suspect it felt as good/cathartic for Atkins to write the rebuke as it did for me to read it.

Yet another Spenser novel, yet another shot taken at the movie by Atkins 


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Kevin M. (RPCV)
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